Food Tips for a High Blood Pressure Diet

Posted by everythinghealth on May 29th, 2019

Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure? While medications are the best treatment to control your blood pressure to avoid any risks of heart attacks or failures, your lifestyle and diet also play an important role.

Blood pressure is a lifestyle disease. It could be caused due to heavy alcohol consumption, smoking, bad eating habits, and no physical activity. Once you have been detected with high blood pressure, maintain a healthy lifestyle to control your blood pressure. Eating healthy and living healthy will reduce your dependency on medicines as well.

Exercising regularly is the first thing to add to your routine. You could join a gymnasium, walk, run, or swim every day for at least 30 minutes. Apart from exercising, diet plays an important role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy does not mean you have to reduce your food intake; instead, you have to choose what you eat.

There are some foods for high blood pressure that help in controlling any flaring of your pressure. Adding them to your diet and eliminating bad foods is a good start.

Below, we have discussed some high blood pressure diet tips to help you:

1. Whole grains and fruits

Adding whole grains and fruits to your diet is the first thing to do to control your cholesterol. High cholesterol could increase your blood pressure. Replace regular bread with whole grain bread, add fruits in your snacks instead of fried or fatty food, and use low-fat dairy products. To understand your diet habits, maintain a food diary where you could note all the changes you have made for Health care and high blood pressure diet so far.

2. Increase Potassium in your diet

Sodium is a key element in fluctuating blood pressure. To nullify the effects of extra sodium in your body, increase the amount of potassium you take. Potassium is naturally available in fruits like oranges, bananas, grapefruit, and apricot. It is also available in green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, and cucumbers. Make sure you cook the vegetables and eat them for your body to absorb the maximum amount of potassium.

3. Reduce sodium intake

A high blood pressure diet usually has sodium less than 1500 mg or less. Decrease your sodium intake by eliminating packages food from your diet, choose low-sodium alternatives, add less salt in your food, and cut down on eating outside.

4. Cut down caffeine

As much as we think that caffeine helps us in staying focussed at work and study, it is harming our body. Caffeine has the potential of raising blood pressure, especially if you have it sometimes. Although long term effects of caffeine on blood pressure are not identified by doctors.

5. Add foods that reduce strain

Hypertension is a reason for elevating blood pressure. Add foods for high blood pressure that reduce hypertension. Berries, ginger, garlic, and dark chocolate are some foods that control hypertension. Regular intake of dark chocolate in a moderate quantity helps in relaxing your mood and controlling blood pressure. Berries have enzymes and nutrients that relax your muscles and reduce risks of changes in blood pressure due to hypertension. Along with changes in food habits, you should meditate, go on long walks and listen to music to feel relaxed.

6. Omega-3 rich foods

Omega-3 fatty acids are proven to reduce blood pressure and inflammation in your body. Foods like fishes, hemp seed oil, and seafood are the best sources of lean protein. Adding a baked fish to your high blood pressure diet regime could help in controlling your blood pressure.

7. Manage your lifestyle

Alcohol consumption and smoking are two habits that contribute to causing high blood pressure problems. While you make changes in your diet, the benefits nullify if you continue to smoke daily or consume alcohol regularly. To see effective results of a high blood pressure diet, you have to quit smoking and alcohol consumption.

According to Everything Health, high blood pressure causes heart diseases and heart attacks. It could also prove to be fatal in many cases. If high blood pressure diagnosed, maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. Follow the above tips to control your blood pressure and lead a happy life.

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